Shohei Ohtani starts against Rockies

LOS ANGELES — Following a brief scare after he was hit on the right hand on the eve of his next pitching start, Shohei Ohtani will still take the mound and hit for Wednesday night’s series finale against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

Ohtani was removed from Tuesday night’s 15-6 rout of the Rockies as a precaution after he took an 85.2 mph changeup from left-hander Kyle Freeland off his pitching hand. The ball mostly caught the padding, although it did graze his pinky finger. Ohtani did not get imaging done on his hand.

“I just want to make sure how he comes in and, physically, how he feels,” Roberts said. “Because I want to make sure he feels really good on the pitching side of things.”

Not only has Ohtani gotten in a groove at the plate of late, but he also carries a 0.73 ERA, the best mark among Major Leaguers who have pitched at least 30 innings this season.

With Rockies right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano set to oppose Ohtani, this will be the 21st matchup between Japanese-born starting pitchers in Major League history, including the postseason. The last such matchup was between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga on Opening Day 2025 in Tokyo.

Ohtani has pitched against the Rockies just once as a Dodger, allowing a season-high five runs in four innings last Aug. 20 at Coors Field. Sugano faced L.A. when the teams met last month in Denver, giving up five runs across four innings on April 17.

While Ohtani continued to roll in his last start, it was a bit of a grind, by his own admission. Ohtani led off the 4-0 win over the Padres at Petco Park with a home run and tossed five scoreless innings, but he did not have a great feel for his stuff. It was his only start of fewer than six innings this season.

“Just overall feel,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton that night. “I have a pretty high standard as far as performance. It didn’t really match.”

Even so, it landed Ohtani in historic territory. In the Live Ball Era (since 1920), Ohtani holds the sixth-lowest ERA by a traditional starting pitcher through the first eight starts of a season. Only Fernando Valenzuela (0.50 in 1981), Mike Norris (0.52 in 1980), Zack Greinke (0.60 in 2009), Al Benton (0.70 in 1954) and Jacob deGrom (0.71 in 2021) had better marks.

Ohtani’s leadoff home run against the Padres was just his second hit in 19 plate appearances during his pitching starts this season. Last week was his best performance of his four two-way games this year, but as he said, he holds himself to a high standard. The superstar is always looking to do more on both sides of the ball, and Wednesday could be a chance to build on his previous outing.